Thank You, My Apology, and What can I do for you?

Recently this blog has acquired over 150 followers, and while I know that’s peanuts in the blogging world, and the blogging experts say that only about 5-10% of my following actually read my posts regularly anyway, I am still tickled pink that 150+ people have found Mama of Letters worthy enough to click “follow.” Even a few true followers makes me happy, and you know who you are.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You encourage me and keep me going.

Many years ago I started Mama of Letters, but it was only more recently when I switched to WordPress and decided to focus on homeschooling and daily life with children. I don’t make money with this blog, and I try to be as honest and straightforward as I can (while still protecting my family’s privacy). I also try to give information that will be helpful to you. I think about what I might like to know, if I were in your shoes. For me that has a lot to do with learning how to relax and do it our way… I hope I inspire you to do it your way.

I have met some wonderful people by writing this blog, and I want to thank those of you who have left comments and/or e-mailed me with your comments and questions.I love connecting with you. I really do.

MY APOLOGY

I apologize for something though. I have always felt that it’s nice for a blogger to try to reciprocate the online relationships by reading and leaving comments on others’ blogs. However, since I’ve started this homeschooling blog I find it impossible to do that while maintaining the lifestyle I purport to have on this blog — simple, creative, mindful, with time spent outdoors and ample time focused on my children — so I don’t do it. If you come here looking for another follower for your blog, you’ll probably be disappointed, but that’s all the more reason I want to thank you, if you read my blog anyway.

I am also not so active on social media. I spend a little time on Facebook, and no time on Google+. Pinterest not so much. I use Twitter more, but there are days that I’m silent there too. I know you can understand why I have to limit myself in these venues.

Having said that, this past year I discovered that Flipboard on my iPad makes reading blogs super easy for me, so I try to at least “flip” through some of my favorite blogs once a week or so. I rarely leave comments. Mostly because it’s hard to do on my iPad, and I usually can’t get passed those darn captcha phrases! (“I really am a REAL person!”) So I apologize for that too, but I do enjoy reading your inspiring blogs, and I wish I had more time for it.

If you have a blog that you’d like for me to read, please leave me a link my comments. I can’t promise anything, but I will add it to my feed!

WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?

How is your homeschooling going? Please leave me a comment. I love to chat.

Do you have concerns or questions about homeschooling you haven’t talked to anyone about yet? Please e-mail me.

Or is there another topic you’re interested in? Motherhood… writing… storytelling… photography… blogging… gardening…. those are all my favorite topics!

Part of the reason I write is because it’s who I am…it’s good for my mental health to write out my thoughts and organize my life this way. (I tried not writing once and it didn’t last very long.)

But I write for an audience because I want to connect with others who share similar interests, and I want to help others attain their goals just as I work toward mine. I really do, and I’m not just saying that. (If I didn’t want to I’d just keep a journal.) It’s more fun doing it together.

So, I would love to get to know you. Please leave me a comment. Tell me how I could help you. Or just say hello and tell me what your plans are for this weekend.

I will continue to respond directly to your comments, and if you don’t want to leave a comment, please e-mail me directly at shelli (at) gmail (dot) com. Of course, if you feel more comfortable lurking, I understand, and I appreciate your readership too.

Hi Shelli,
I am a fellow homeschooling mama of three children (12, 10, and 8) in a suburb of Atlanta. Your blog is valuable to me because you so intelligently and succinctly describe why homeschooling is the better choice. I have a passion for science, particularly life science. I thoroughly enjoyed your snake video! Thank you 🙂

Amy, it’s so nice to make your acquaintance. Thank you for introducing yourself. It’s nice to know a fellow Georgia homeschooler reads my blog! My husband said (only half jokingly) that we may need help teaching life science, so I should get your phone number! lol I’m so glad you enjoyed the snake video!

Thank you, Shelli, I love your blog! And I always read it even if I don’t always comment. I think our homeschooling philosophies are fairly similar and I enjoy learning from you since your kids are both a bit older than my two. We are desperately awaiting spring here in New Hampshire, but tomorrow we have fun plans to meet up with friends at a Children’s Museum and next Monday we have plans with a little homeschool groups to tour a small local maple sugar house. I am still considering ordering the first Life of Fred book for my daughter. I thinks she’s ready, but I’m not sure I am!

Peggy, I always appreciate all the comments you leave! I certainly don’t expect you to comment on each post. It’s been very nice making your acquaintance, and I look forward to hearing how your homeschool is going. Your field trips sound like so much fun! And I know what you mean about not being ready! Make it last as long as possible! (But if you do decide, you can get a free sample chapter on the Life of Fred website – just to try it out first!)

I just recently started following your blog – I wanted to be sure to catch your interview series with Lori Pickert, and I’m still here. I homeschool my almost-six-year-old and her 3-year-old brother in WA, secularly. That is to say, we don’t do it for religious reasons, and don’t use religious curriculum. But we are Christian, albeit liberal. I use various curricula depending on subject, but we have lots of unstructured time, and I find myself more and more interested in interest led and project-based learning. I went to school to be a teacher though, and I am still learning to let go of some of that baggage. I never taught after I graduated – it was too much about politics, and too little about kids. I enjoy photography and scrapbooking (which is my storytelling). So your blog seems like a good place for me to hang out for awhile.

Thank you so much for introducing yourself, JenRay. It sounds like we have a lot in common! (Washington is a beautiful state, by the way! One of my favorites! I might have moved there once, but that’s a long story….) I have known two people who got teaching degrees (and I’ve heard of others) who didn’t use it because they realized they couldn’t do it. It’s probably not that uncommon.

Thank you so much for following my blog. I hope you’ll enjoy it enough to keep reading.

Shelli, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I’ve found it incredibly challenging to just post once a week on my own blog and keep up with e-mails and comments that I get, let alone trying to keep up with reading other blogs I love and leave comments there. I do read your blog quite a bit, but I know I rarely leave comments. But, as you’ve said, it’s easier just to read and not leave comments. I used to get down at myself for not having that many comments on my blog sometimes, but when I thought of how I am with leaving comments and I can see the number of visitors that do come to my site every day, I know that most people are reading but are just too busy to leave comments. I try to set aside at the very least a few hours a month to leave comments on some of my favorite blogs, but even that is too much sometimes. Anyway, this was a long way of saying I’ll be here to read whatever you have to write about even if I can’t comment on it!!!! Also, I love posts about favorite resources you are using. They are my favorite to read!

Christina, Thank you for your comment! I totally understand about not commenting (obviously since that’s what I do)! I really appreciate you reading even some of my posts. I enjoy your blog too. I’ll always include posts about the resources we’re using! Thanks for the feedback! Happy blogging to you!

I’m starting to homeschool my children (ages 3 & 5.5), and enjoy reading the detailed accounts of your experiences. I’m a secular homeschooler, and lean towards unschooling. My kids seem to prefer to pick things up through daily conversation and play rather than have “lessons”, and I don’t want to turn them off of learning, so I go with it! We utilize a fair amount of visual media, and can relate to the feeling that limiting it too much can overinflate it’s value. It’s refreshing to find someone else who can admit to this in a culture of treating “screen time” as poison. I’m really interested in finding ways to keep my son interested in literacy; he is very into manipulative/fine motor activities, but finds it hard to sit down for books. I also love reading about activities which can ignite interest in topics. Your efforts here are greatly appreciated! I hardly have time to keep a very simple blog for our grandparents to view!

Thank you for introducing yourself, Alex. It sounds like we have a lot in common too. I know exactly what you mean when you say your children pick things up through daily conversation and play. That’s why I’ve limited our formal lessons, and I’m very interested in PBH as a way to cultivate those interests and mentor my children as opposed to “teaching” them.

Yes, totally agree with the statement you make about limiting the screen time and then how that over inflates it. My kids tend to self-regulate.

Is it your 5 or 3 year old who doesn’t want to sit down for books? My 3yo is extremely kinesthetic, and I’m wondering how different it will be teaching him the basics. He enjoys books at times, although I don’t take as much time with him as I ever did with my oldest since I’m tending to two children now. You may try storytelling with your son (some of my first stories I told my 6yo was while we were taking a walk together – I think he was four). Puppet shows might be fun too – I wrote about our puppet shows a while back. I do want to write more about storytelling, and I’m working on a comprehensive resource for parents on storytelling, but who knows how long it will take me to finish it?! lol If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Again, thanks so much for connecting! Keep me posted on your homeschooling!

My son’s YouTube Channel

In a Nutshell…

We are project-based homeschoolers who let our kids’ interests take over our lives. (I’m not exaggerating much.) We also teach academic subjects that they will need to get into good universities because that seems to be where they are headed. Our boys have many interests that have led us on a journey of discovery. Some of their interests include science and nature, particularly birds and horticulture. They are also musicians. One son is an aspiring classical pianist. The other wants to play cello as a hobby. My husband is a professor and historian. I’m a writer and love literature. There is never a boring day in this house. Please join us on our journey by following this blog.

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